Craft Project: Scrabble Tile Personalized Christmas Ornaments

We enjoy making our own Christmas tree ornaments and giving them away to family & friends during the holiday season. This year we decided to make these super-easy Scrabble Tile Personalized Christmas Ornaments! You will only need a few craft supplies to make them.

Once completed you can attach them to your holiday packages (as gift toppers), use them as place settings on your holiday table or just hand them out as your classic Christmas tree ornament.

Craft Project: Scrabble Tile Personalized Christmas Ornaments

Wood Scrabble Tiles
Wood Glue
Satin Ribbon
Scissors
Metal Eye Hooks
Drill with Small Drill Bit

You will need to use a drill to put a small hole in the top of a Scrabble Tile. You will want to do it with the First letter tile of the word that you're spelling. You will then screw in the metal eye hook into that hole. If it doesn't fit tightly, you can add a tad of wood glue into the hole. Let dry.

Lay out your tiles in the order that you need them for each of the words that you're spelling. Glue them together with just a tiny amount of the wood glue and lay them flat to dry. I laid mine out on an old cookie sheet that I then threw away. You want to lay them down onto a surface that they won't stick to if the glue oozes out. A sheet of aluminum foil would work well too. Let them dry.

Once they're dry use scissors to cut satin ribbon in a length of 6" long. Use that ribbon to make a bow around the metal eye hook. You can cut another length of satin ribbon and thread it through the eye hook if you want to make a hanging loop. I opted to not do that as I like the look of just hanging them onto the tree with an ornament hook.

You can decorate them even further by adding tiny seashells, artificial flowers, rhinestones, faux jewels, etc. That's entirely up to you. Easy project!

Preschool Crafts: Easy Snowman Refrigerator Magnets

Working with a preschool group of children and looking for an easy-to-make holiday craft project? If so, we've got one for you today! This project utilizes just a handful of general craft supplies that can be picked up at your local craft store. If you want to save time, you could paint the wood circles ahead of time with white craft paint and then let the kids add the facial features. If you didn't want to mess with paint, you could have the children use black and orange markers.

Preschool Crafts: Easy Snowman Refrigerator Magnets

2" or 3" Round Unfinished Wood Circles
White Acrylic Craft Paint
Black Acrylic Craft Paint
Orange Acrylic Craft Paint
Paint Brush, Water Dish, Paper Towels
Peel & Stick Magnet
Cotton Swab
Round Wood Toothpick

Paint the unfinished round wood circles with 2 coats of white acrylic craft paint. Let dry. Dip the cotton swab into black acrylic craft paint and dot on the snowman's 2 eyes. Dip the end of a round wooden toothpick into black paint and dot on his mouth. Have the kids use a fine-tip paint brush to paint on a triangular shaped carrot nose using orange acrylic craft paint. Let dry.

Once all of the paint has dried, flip them over and add the peel-n-stick magnet on the back. You'll want to use heavy-duty magnets. Make sure they're strong enough to hold the wooden snowman to the refrigerator without sliding down. That's it, you're done!

Kid's Crafts: Christmas Candy Trains

Looking for a super-easy and quick Christmas craft to make with the kids? Got a church youth group, school classroom or Girl Scout Troop and looking for an easy project? If so, these adorable Christmas Candy Trains work up super quickly and are adorable!

To save money, we buy the majority of our supplies at our local dollar-type of discount store. You can find the glue dots that you need at your local craft store in the scrapbooking section.

Kid's Crafts: Christmas Candy Trains

Rolls of LifeSavers
Packs of Bubblegum (stick variety)
Bag of Hershey's Miniatures
Bag of Hershey's Kisses
Bag of ROLO Chocolate Candies
Bag of Mary Jane Candies
Bag of Peppermint Candies
Box of Large-Sized Glue Dots

When purchasing the candies, make sure that they are individually wrapped! You'll be adhering all of the wrapped candies together using the large glue dots.

Start by adhering the LifeSaves to the pack of gum using three to four large Glue Dots, as shown in the photos. Then use the Glue Dots to add on the train's wheels and then add the rest of the pieces to form the train. Some of the candies you'll need to use one Glue Dot and other's you'll need to use two, depending on the weight of the candy.

If you want to use them as edible Christmas tree ornaments or as package toppers, you'll need to purchase a roll of hanging metallic string or satin ribbon. Cut a piece 5 to 6" in length and tie it onto the train to form a hanging loop. That's it, you're done!

DIY Rock Painting - Christmas Snowman

I am the first one to admit...I'm not great at decorative painting although I enjoy doing it. I find decorative painting to be a great way to de-stress, relax and a way to be creative. When it comes to painting, I'm all about the quick and easy projects that anyone can do...regardless of talent.

With the Christmas holiday coming, I wanted to share a quick & easy painting project with all of you today. You can do any holiday design that you want...I chose to paint snowmen as they're easy to do. Here is what you'll need to make your own DIY Handpainted Snowmen on Rocks.

DIY Rock Painting - Christmas Snowman 

Square-Shaped Rocks 2 1/2 to 3 1/2" in Size
Acrylic Paints
Fine Line Paint Brush
Medium Paint Brush
Clear Acrylic Sealer (comes in a spray can)
Old Plastic Place Mat
Paper Towels
Plastic Lid
Water Bowl

Find some square-shaped or rectangular-shaped rocks. Wash and dry them. Once dry you'll want to paint them a solid black color for your background. Let it dry completely. Next, you'll want to paint your design. I chose to do an easy snowman design. Once my snowman was dry, I added his facial features, scarf, hat and twig arms. I left him dry for a few more hours. I then took my rocks outside and placed them onto an old plastic place mat. Spray one side of the rock with clear acrylic sealer. Let dry for several hours. Flip your rocks over and spray the other side with the sealer and let dry overnight. By spraying them with the sealer, you're protecting your newly painted design.

Once they're done drying you can place them on a shelf, your mantle or any little place that needs a little decoration. I like seeing several of them grouped together on a shelf in different holiday designs. The one I'm featuring today reminds me of a piece of black coal with a snowman design on it since I sprayed the rock with a glossy finish to make it shiny. I think it turned out really cute and super simple to do!

DIY Coastal Seashell Christmas Ornaments

Every year I decorate a 6 foot tall Christmas Tree in a beach and coastal theme. I decorate three trees for the season, but I admit...my coastal Christmas Tree is my favorite.

Last week at our local Dollar Store I picked up some craft supplies to make my own Coastal Seashell Christmas Ornament Balls. I love frugal holiday crafts like this and I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out. Here's how to make them!

DIY Coastal Seashell Christmas Ornament Balls

Clear Plastic Ornament Balls
Sand
Bag of Seashells
All-Purpose Craft Glue
Raffia

Note: I purchased all of the supplies at my local Dollar Store.

Remove the top from each ornament ball. Fill the ball 2/3 of the way full with purchased craft sand. Place small seashells down into the ornament through the hole at the top. Your ornament will be semi-heavy, so they are best for the bottom branches of your tree. Since they are semi-heavy, I used all-purpose craft glue to glue the top back into place...just for added extra-strength, so that the little prongs on the cap don't pull out.

Cut a 6" to 8" long piece of natural-colored raffia and tie it through the top for the ornament's hanger. If desired, you can make a loopy bow out of the raffia too. I kept mine pretty simple. I like the calming neutral tones, so I kept to those, but you could certainly use colored sand or small dyed (or painted) seashells too. Super simple to make!

I made a total of 8 of them and they will be hanging this year on my bigger, bottom branches on the Christmas Tree. If I can find smaller ornament balls and even tinier seashells, I would like to make some smaller ones too! Fun!

Quick and Easy Christmas Scrapbooking Page Layout Idea

It's hard to believe but Christmas will be here again soon and I am just getting around to scrapbooking some of my photographs from last year. Sigh...where does the time go? Seriously, I need to find MORE time to craft and scrapbook!

If you have been following my craft blog for the past 6 years...you will already know that I am a traditional scrapbooker. I don't get into putting a slew of things on my pages (clutter) and I certainly don't believe in putting $20 or more into one single page. I know others do...but that's not me.

This is a very simple and quick Christmas scrapbooking layout. I used a printed sheet of 12" by 12" Christmas paper that had a Santa border already on it. I used four photos...two that I cropped down into square shapes and two that I cropped down into smaller rectangular shapes. I then matted them onto one sheet of evergreen colored cardstock.

My title is a piece of printed vellum that says "All I Want for Christmas..." I framed up that piece of vellum with evergreen colored cardstock and used glue dots to put it on my page at the top. In my scrap box I found a 3-dimensional Christmas tree embellishment (I believe it's an older Jolee's piece) and added that to my title block on the right side using foam dots.

I elected to NOT do journaling on this page and will be doing it on the coordinating page (working on that page now) because I didn't want the page to be cluttered. I like photos to speak for themselves and to NOT be out-done by a slew of embellishments.

If you like quick, easy and frugal...this Christmas scrapbooking page layout is for you!!!

Craft Project - Snowman Made from Kid's Socks

Christmas is only 2 days away but one of the things I love about our next Christmas craft project is that you can make these adorable sock snowman in a variety of colors and leave them sitting out all winter long. The one I'm featuring today is decorated in red & green for the Christmas holiday, but you could change the colors to blue and silver for a wintertime theme.

I whipped up this snowman yesterday afternoon and really didn't keep any measurements. With that said, with my basic directions you'll be able to whip one up too!

Craft Project - Holiday Snowman

1 single baby sock (in a color)
1 child's sock
ribbon or homespun fabric scraps
4 round black beads
1 wooden heart, painted (we painted it dark red)
wooden toothpick (painted orange)
rice, dried beans or tiny pellets
fiberfill stuffing
sewing needle and thread
teabag and water
all-purpose glue or glue gun
cosmetic pink blush

The first thing you'll want to do is take a child' white sock and tea-dye it. We soaked our's in a solution of one brewed tea bag in 1 cup of hot water. We left it soak for about 2 hours. We then squeeze the water out and tossed it into the dryer to dry for a few minutes. We did this to make our snowman look antiqued & primitive. You could leave them white if you wanted to.

Place rice, beans or pellets into the toe portion of the sock which will add weight to him so that he stands upright. I didn't measure this out and then I added some stuffing on top. I cut the cuff off of the sock and used a sewing needle and thread to sew the opening shut. I cute a piece of green homespun fabric into a strip and tied that around the neck area (or the area that I wanted to be the neck).

I took a pair of sage green baby socks and cut the foot portion off of the sock and used just the cuff to form the snowman's hat. I did fold back the sock opening by about a 1/2" to form the rim of the hat and used a needle & sewing thread to gather up the top opening of the hat and tied it shut. I cut another smaller strip of homespun fabric and tied it into a bow...used my glue gun and glued it to the top of the snowman's hat.

To finish him up...I glued on two black beads for his eyes and I painted a wooden toothpick orange, cut it down to size and then glued that onto his face to serve as his nose. I got into my cosmetic bag and used a Q-tip dipped into my blusher to make his rosy cheeks. Finally, I painted a small wooden heart a dark red color and once it was dry...I glued that onto his chest along with two additional black beads to serve as his buttons.

I think my snowman turned out adorable and I had all of the craft supplies on hand and my daughter donated the grandchildren's socks to me to use in my various craft projects.

Holiday Craft Project - Clay Pot Gingerbread Man

Christmas is just a few short days away and thankfully...this little craft project works up quickly. You can make several of these Clay Pot Gingerbread Guys and Girls in just a few short hours. All of the supplies are basic ones that you can find at your local craft supply store.

Once completed these little guys look cute sitting on shelves, on your mantle, table top, buffet table, as place card settings on your holiday table or add strings to hang them on a Christmas tree.

Craft Project - Clay Pot Gingerbread Man

3" high clay pot
2" diameter wood ball
1/8" wide white rick-rack
E6000 adhesive glue
1/4" diameter butters x3
acrylic paints (brown, black, white and pink)
paint brush, water and paper towels

Note: I found that hot glue did NOT work well at keeping these pieces perm. together. I found that using E6000 adhesive glue did the job perfectly.

Paint the outside of the clay pot and the wood ball in a solid chocolate brown color, let dry. Once your base paint has dried...paint on the gingerbread man or girl's facial features. Let dry completely before proceeding.

Once all of your paint has dried it's time to glue on the buttons and rick-rack trim, let dry. Once everything is dry...glue the head onto the body (the clay pot) and let dry overnight.

Clay Pot Toy Soldier Holiday Decoration

Are you looking for a quick and easy holiday craft project? Do you like to decorate with a toy soldiers motif? If so, you've got to check out these adorable Clay Pot Toy Soldiers! You can make one in only a few short hours and with just a few general craft supplies.

You can make these clay pot toy soldiers in a variety of sizes but just changing up the size of the flower pots, wood ball and wood candle cups. You can make them smaller than this one or quiet large, that's totally up to you! All of these supplies can picked up anywhere general crafting goods are sold.

Craft Project - Clay Pot Toy Soldier

3" Clay Pot
1 1/2" Clay Pot (2)
1" Wood Ball
1 1/2" Wood Candle Cup
E6000 Glue Adhesive
Acrylic Paint: Red, Black, Flesh, Pink, Brown and Yellow
Paint Brush, Water and Paper Towels
Gold Metallic Cord (if you want to hang them)
Clear Acrylic Spray Sealer

Lay down newspaper. Paint each piece as shown in the photos with their base color. Let dry for an hour and then paint the smaller details on top. Let dry for another hour.

Using E6000 glue adhesive you'll want to assemble your pieces. Turn the two 1 1/2" clay puts upside down to form the soldier's boots and glue them onto the upside down 3" clay pot (the body). Glue the wooden ball (the head) on top and then turn the wood candle cup upside down (the hat) and glue that on. You'll need to let this sit for several hours for the glue to adhere and completely dry.

If you plan on using them for Christmas tree ornaments...add the metallic gold cord. Just a warning, they will need to be placed on bigger & sturdy tree branches. Otherwise, they look cute sitting on shelves, your fireplace mantle, window sills, etc.

Rustic Wood Gingerbread Man Ornaments

Last week we sat down at church with a group of 6-8 year old kids and whipped up these adorable wooden Gingerbread Christmas tree ornaments. It's a great little project for kids to do because it lets them paint and get creative.

All of the supplies we got at our local craft store and/or had them on hand. For each gingerbread ornament, here is what you will need:

Wooden Gingerbread Christmas Tree Ornaments

1 unfinished gingerbread man wood cut-out
jute or thin gauge rope
scraps of homespun fabric
buttons
1/4" diameter unfinished wood heart
bottle all-purpose craft glue
brown, pink, white and black acrylic craft paint
paint brush
paper towels

* Each unfinished gingerbread shape measures 4" to 5" tall.

Lay some newspapers down or an old plastic table cloth. Let the kids paint their gingerbread wooden shapes however they would like. (The one shown in the photo was done by an 8 year old girl). Once all of the paint is dry let them glue on ribbon, fabric bows, buttons or whatever else you have to decorate them. Let the paint and glue dry completely before hanging.

Note: Some of the kids decided to not glue on hanging loops and instead glued on magnets on the back and turned them into refrigerator magnets.

Kid's Crafts: Clothespin Airplane Christmas Tree Ornaments

Twice a month I hold regular arts & crafts play dates with my 6 1/2 year old grand daughter. Just like her grandmother (me) she loves to sit down and be creative! It doesn't matter what kind of craft project it is...she always enjoys doing them.

A few weeks ago we sat down and she made some really cute Clothespin Airplane Christmas tree ornaments! You only need a handful of craft supplies to make them and they work up really quickly.

Kid's Crafts: Clothespin Airplane Christmas Tree Ornaments

Acrylic Craft Paint - Variety of Colors

Paint Brush

Water Dish & Paper Towels

Wooden Clothespins (1 per plane)

Craft Sticks - Popsicle Sticks (we used 2 different sizes, 3 per plane)
6" to 8" String or Ribbon (per plane)

All Purpose Craft Glue

Newspaper

Lay newspaper or an old plastic tablecloth down on your work surface. We use acrylic craft paints and I use an old plastic lid from a butter tub as her painting palette. Just squirt a quarter size per pain color onto the plastic lid as it dries fast!

Let the kids paint the craft sticks and popsicle sticks one color and the wooden clothespin should be a different or contrasting color. Acrylic paint dries quickly and our's were completely dry within 30 minutes. 

Use all-purpose craft glue (or a hot glue gun with adult supervision) to glue on the craft sticks as airplane wings. Let dry. Once it has completely dried have the kids tie a hanging loop onto the center of the wooden clothespin so that it can be hung up on the Christmas tree.

Tip: The hanging loop needs to be tied around the 'center' of the plane so that it hangs correctly. If you tie it on in other areas...it hangs tilted. 

Make a Scissor Holder Using a Potholder - Craft Project Idea

Looking for a last minute gift idea? These are great little no-sew projects that work up in a few short minutes. They make great little gifts for the holidays, for Easter, Mother's Day and/or for Birthdays. You can buy your supplies at a local dollar store to save money.

Scissor Holder Using a Potholder Craft Project

1 large square shaped pot holder w/hanging loop
1 tube fabric glue
1 full-size pair of scissors
2 clothes pins

Note: If kids are doing this project use liquid fabric glue. If adults are doing them, you can use a hot glue gun with glue sticks.

Lay your square shaped potholder down onto the table in a diamond shape with the hanging loop to the right. The ones we used are solid color on one side and have a print on the other side. The solid color is facing up and the print is facing the table.

Fold the pot holder in half with the edges over-lapping one another. Squirt a thin layer of fabric glue down the one side and sandwich the other edge on top. We used two clothes pins to hold them together until the glue dried. 

Once the glue has dried you can tuck your full-size scissors inside. We have a little hook on the side of our refrigerator where our scissor holder is hanging which keeps my kitchen shears in easy reach. I also keep one hanging on a wooden knob in my sewing & crafting room. I always know where my scissors are and they are always within my reach!

7 Crafty Ways to Use Leftover Christmas Gift Wrapping Paper

The Christmas holiday is now over and instead of throwing away all of that used gift wrap and scrap pieces of your holiday wrap...its time to put them to some good crafty use!

I am a frugal crafter and every year I bag up that torn gift wrap and toss it all into a bag with my small scrap piece. Then throughout the winter when I am stuck inside...I get into my bag and make some new crafty items for the next holiday season.

Here are 7 craft project ideas that you can do to use up all of that Christmas gift wrapping paper instead of tossing it away!

* Homemade Bookmarks - Takes those scraps and turn them into holiday bookmarks! Cut from cardboard or cardstock rectangular shapes that measure 1 3/4" by 6" in length. Use a hole puncher and punch a hole on one end. Cut the paper to measure the width and length of the cardstock and glue one piece onto each side. Use yarn or ribbon and thread through the hole to make a bow or tassel.

* Decoupage Vase - Save old clear glass vases and jars. Rip the scraps into odd shapes measuring no large than 3" in size. Use decoupage and adhere them to the outside of a glass vase or jar. Let dry and then cover with a top coat of the decoupage medium, let dry for 24 full hours. You now have a holiday vase or container for next year! If using jars, save the lids and use them for gifts in a jar!

* Gift Tags - From cardboard or cardstock cut pieces that measure 4" in size. Cut from gift wrap a piece that measures 4" in size. Use quick drying glue and a foam brush to adhere the paper to one side of the cardstock. Let dry. Fold the square in half or using a scoring tool to score it down the center, fold. Use a hole punch to turn it into a gift tag. Use scraps of ribbon or yarn through the hole so you can attach your new tags to package boxes or onto gift bags.

* Gift Bags - Purchase solid color gift bags at your local party supply store. Cut shapes and designs out of your scrap gift wrap and glue it onto the bags using a quick drying glue and a foam brush. Let dry for several hours. You can place your design just on the front of the bag or continue it around all four sides.

* Cardboard Boxes - Save all of your small and medium sized boxes along with their lids. Cut shapes and/or designs out of the gift wrap and glue them onto all sides and the lid of the box in a pleasing design using quick drying glue and a foam brush. Let dry. You now have pretty gift boxes for next year all ready to go!

* Tall Glass Candle Holders - Recycle or buy clear glass cylinder candle holders at your local dollar store. Use decoupage medium and a foam brush to glue on shapes, designs and patterns from the gift wrap onto the glass candle holder. Let dry. Use the decoupage medium to add a top coat across your design and let dry for 24 hours. You now have pretty holiday candle holders for next year.

* Scrapbooking & Cardmaking - Purchase a bottle of archival mist and lightly mist your scraps of Christmas gift wrapping paper. Let dry for 24 hours. You can now cut up those scraps and use them safely in your scrapbooks or use them in your cardmaking to make scrapbook layouts or new holiday cards.

Hope you enjoy these project ideas! If you have any other frugal craft project ideas or Trash to Treasure craft project ideas that you want to share with me and my readers, please feel free to leave me a comment below & I will contact you. Enjoy!

Handpainted Glass Snowman Snowball Ornaments

A friend of mine knows I love decorating for the holidays in a snowman theme and every year one of my small Christmas trees is decorated in a snowman theme. For that particular theme tree, I hang all of my various snowmen ornaments onto it.

Last week she brought over these 2" diameter glass ball ornaments that she had made for me in the cutest snowman design. I am NOT a decorative painter but the design is simple enough I think I could make some of these too!

She purchased 2" diameter white glass Christmas ornament balls and then painted them by hand. She simply painted on a red hat, black eyes, black coal mouth and an orange carrot nose. She used some of that white textured snow paint to paint the faux fur trim around the snowman's hat.

After they dried, she sprayed each ornament with a thin coating of clear acrylic spray sealer to seal in the paint which helps it to resist fading, cracking and chipping. She then left them dry a second time for a full 24 hours before bringing them over to me.

I think they are the cutest little things and now I got an entire dozen of them hanging on my snowman theme Christmas tree! A cute, simple & quick Christmas tree ornament project!

Craft Project - Quick & Easy Wooden Gingerbread Man Shelf Sitter

Wooden Gingerbread Man

Last weekend the family got together as we always do during the holiday season and worked on some new holiday crafts. One of the projects we worked on were these simple wooden Gingerbread Man shelf sitters which we are donating to the local assisted living center for the residents to enjoy. For some reason this one didn't get his mouth painted on at the time of the photo! Geesh!  Here is how we made them.

Wooden Gingerbread Man Shelf Sitter

Pine Wood
Saw
Sand Paper
Acrylic Paints: brown, white, pink and black + paint brush
Paper pattern, scissors and a pencil
Clear Acrylic Sealer

Pattern: We hand drew out a gingerbread man shape onto paper and cut it out to use as our pattern. Ours measures 5 1/2" tall by 4" wide by 1" thick. You can make yours any size that you would like.

We had the guys cut out 12 of these from pine wood that measured 1" thick and then sanded them smooth. We then base coated them with the acrylic brown paint, left it dry for 30 minutes and gave them a second coat. You can decorate yours as fancy as you would like but we kept ours plain & simple. We added some white paint trim around each ankle and wrist...3 white painted on buttons down his chest. We used pink paint for his cheeks and black paint for his eyes and mouth. We left them dry and then sprayed them with clear acrylic sealer that comes in a can. You will want to let them dry one final time for about 10 to 12 hours.

15 Creative Ideas: Recycling Holiday Greeting Cards

During the Holiday and Christmas Seasons, we all get an abundance of Holiday Greeting Cards. Once the holiday has passed, what do you do with them? Don't throw them away!

I have 15 creative ideas to share with you, on how you can recycle and reuse those Greeting Cards.

1. Holiday Place Card Settings. Cut down your greeting card to a 4" high by 3" wide size. Fold and score the card in the center, making a 'tent' shape. You can write the guests name inside the card.

2. Postcards. Cut the back off. Use the front side as a postcard.

3. Beverage Coasters. Cut your card to a 4" square size. You now have disposable beverage coasters for your next party. If you would like permanent coasters, seal the design in clear contact paper.

4. Refrigerator Magnets. Cut out pretty designs from the front. Seal the design with clear contact paper. Glue a small magnet on the back.

5. Coat and Sweater Pins. Cut out some small pretty designs from your cards. Glue a 1" pin closure onto the back.

6. Recipe Cards. Cut down your card to measure 3"x 5" in size. Write your favorite holiday recipes on the blank backside. You can hand them out at your holiday party or at your cookie exchange party.

7. Wall Decorations. You can mat and frame your greeting cards.

8. Scrapbooking and Cardmaking. To make your items archival safe, lightly spray them with Archival Mist.

9. Bookmarks. Cut your card to a 1 1/2" by 7" size. Use a hole punch to punch a hole near the top edge. Attach a ribbon or tassel through the hole.

10. Gift Bag and Package Tags. Cut down to a 1" by 3" size. Hole punch a hole in the left upper corner so that you can attach the tag to the package with ribbon.

11. Tree Ornaments. Cut out 3" and 4" diameter designs. Hole punch a hole near the top center. Use ribbon to make a hanger.

12. Jar Lid Toppers. If you are making gift mixes to give as Holiday gifts, cut out a circle design to fit the top of your jar lid. Glue to the jar lid using all-purpose crafting glue or a scrapbooking glue stick.

13. Holiday Placemats. Cut a sheet of poster board to desired placement length. Glue card fronts onto poster board. Seal both sides of poster board with clear contact paper.

14. Charm Tags. Cut out 2" diameter circles. Hole punch a hole near the to center edge. Using a key chain finding, insert chain through hole. Instant way to dress up your purse, backpack, and key chains for the holidays.

15. CD/DVD Jewel Case Covers. Dress up those holiday self-made DVDs and CDs by making your own jewel case covers. Cut down greeting cards to fit inside the case, using the case as a template.

I hope these 15 crafty ideas have inspired your own creative ideas. Remember, Don't throw them away. It's time to Recycle and Reuse those greeting cards!

Article Written by Shelly Hill ~ Owner of Passionate About Crafting Blog.

Scrapbooking | Season's Greetings Holiday Scrapbook Layout Idea

A few months ago I finally got around to scrapbooking my Christmas 2011 Holiday photos and the above layout is one that I made. I decided to work in a light blue, medium blue, white & silver color scheme because my little grand daughter was wearing a blue "princess" dress on Christmas morning. The layout was done in the 12x12 format size and I had a really hard time finding "blue" colored holiday embellishments so I had to make my own.

My background is a white sheet of 12x12 cardstock. Layered on top is a piece of light blue and medium blue cardstock that has a texture and light glitter on it. I cropped them down to the size I wanted and then used my Martha Stewart border punch along their long edges to make them more fancy. I layered them together and stuck them onto my white background.

I had 2 photos which I slightly cropped down and I framed each photo with a light blue frame and then matted them onto white cardstock which I hand cut as I wanted a wavy border around them. (see photo for placement). I cut a white 4" diameter paper doily in half and glued it under the top of the photo on the right and did my journaling on the doily. I used my Cricut to cut out my title which simply says "Season's Greetings" and used my glue pen to place it at the top of my page.

Under the photo on the left is a block that says "Silent Night, Holy Night" which I accented with a silver embroidered snowflake with a rhinestone in it's center. I then took a blue cardstock 3-D embellishment and stuck that on the left side of that title block. From a piece of dark navy blue felt I cut a small rectangular shape to represent a gift box. I tied some jute around it for the bow.

I wanted to add some "bling" to the page so I used some broken jewelry pieces (vintage ones) set into a silver metal. I just cut the backings off of them so they would lay flat. I placed a rhinestone earring front onto the cuff of the stocking, a rhinestone earring front onto the top of the gift box and then I removed the pin backings from 2 large brooches and used one on each of my photos as accents.

Trust me...this page looks beautiful in person and my photo didn't capture the glitz & glam of the jewelry pieces on the page. I love this simple, clean but pretty scrapbook layout!

Scrapbooking | Quick and Easy Holiday Scrapbook Layout Ideas

Today I thought I would share a few photos of some quick and easy Holiday Theme'd Scrapbook layout ideas that you all can do in less than 30 minutes per page. These layouts are for those of you who like quick, easy and non-cluttered looking type of pages that don't cost you a lot of money.
All of these holiday scrapbooking layouts cost less than $2.00 per page, take less than 30 minutes to construct and were done in the 12x12 layout size. You can find all of these supplies (simple ones like them) at your local scrapbooking supply store. I call these no-frills type of layouts that are clean and simple to look at.

Many people who scrapbook teach you how to really put a lot of time, money and effort into creating all of your scrapbook layouts but there indeed people (scrapbookers) out there who don't want to invest all of that time, money and effort but still want decent and pretty looking scrapbook pages.

These 2 simple layouts above are certainly that and can be done by any scrapbooker, including someone who is brand new to scrapbooking (a newbie). Enjoy!

Crafts - Hand Painted Snowman Terra Cotta Flower Pots

A friend of mine loves to dabble in crafts, especially hand painted crafts and last week she made me this adorable hand painted snowman terra cotta flower pot! I think it is absolutely adorable!

She took a 6" terra cotta pot and painted the outside of it with navy blue acrylic paint. Once dry, she took some white textured snow paint and painted the rim with that. That textured paint really looks like snow!

She drew her snowman design onto scrap paper first and then used acrylic paints to paint her design around the sides of the flower pot. Once it was dry, she sprayed clear coat acrylic sealer around the outside of the pot and left it dry overnight.

I am going to use my new flower pot to hold some wrapped Christmas candies and some festive candy canes! I love my new pot and she said they are really easy-to-make. You could paint several of them up in one day and give them as gifts or use them to decorate your home. You could seriously paint all kinds of festive holiday designs on these pots like: peppermint candy swirls, santa, elves, Christmas flowers, reindeer or whatever holiday design that you like! Happy Holidays!

Kid's Craft Project | A Christmas Angel Your Own Little Angel Can Make

A Christmas Angel Your Own Little Angel Can Make by Denise Willms

Here is an easy Christmas craft your preschooler can make with a little help and supervision. Even if your preschooler isn’t always an angel, she can still help you decorate a Christmas tree with beautiful paper angels.

What you need:

Construction paper (any color)
Scissors
Pencil
Cotton ball
Items to make large and small circle patterns (plate, coin, lid)
White paper
Glue

What you do:

First, use a large circle pattern and draw a large circle on the construction paper. Cut out the circle and fold it in half. Then cut the circle in half, along the fold. Bend the half circle into a cone. Staple or glue the cone together. This will be the angel’s body.

Fold the sheet of white paper in half. Place a small circle pattern on the paper so that the edge of the circle is touching the fold. Trace the circle and cut it out. Do not cut across the fold. When you unfold the paper, you want to have two attached circles. This will be the angel’s face.

One of the small circles, draw a face. Glue a cotton ball on the other small circle for the angel’s hair. Glue the bottom of each circle to the top of the angel’s body (the cone).

Now fold another piece of construction paper in half. Draw a wing that touches the fold, so that when it’s cut out you will have two wings joined together. Cut it out, unfold and glue the wings across the angel’s back. A stapler might work better.

Decorate your angel with paper doilies, glitter, or anything else you have on hand. You can put it on top of the Christmas tree, or attach a string to the angel’s head and hang it from a branch on the Christmas tree.

Denise Willms is a homeschooling mom of two, and owner of WAHM-Articles.com. You can find more information on homeschooling at http://www.learnhowtohomeschool.com